Tell Me a Story
by lms2457
Summary: This will be a series of disconnected one shots of varied length, based on prompts that I receive through tumblr. Because I wanted them to have a home here. Rated for safety in case of need in later chapters.
1. A Birthday for Kate

**Tell Me a Story**

**Disclaimer:** I still don't own it, and they're way more evil than me

**AN:** this will be a series of disconnected one shots, based on prompts that I receive through tumblr. Because I wanted them to have a home here.

_For everyone kind enough to ask. Past, present, and future_

* * *

Prompt: A birthday themed fic on what Castle would do for Beckett's birthday. Preferably a fluffy fic - (Anon)

* * *

When he first tells her that he's negotiated with Gates to get her the following Monday and Tuesday off beyond a customary weekend, something she doesn't always take off anyway, she's only slightly put out. She thinks they're headed for the Hamptons for the weekend. Some sort of lavish last minute birthday event he's cooked up. Retaliation, she's sure, for last spring. She loves him for it, but her head already hurts with the thought of having to put up with all of those people in any environment where she still feels of place. But, he's her fiancé and she has a feeling she better get used to it.

It's only after they make the first few unexpected turns on their Friday night drive that she realizes they're headed not to his estate in the Hamptons, but upstate.

"Castle," she asks curiously, "where on earth are you kidnapping me to?" She knows only that he had told her to pack bag for a long weekend, and to be sure it included a swimsuit. Thus, she had assumed the Hamptons. Apparently, she had assumed incorrectly.

"Beckett," he says, half annoyed, half whining, but all too entirely pleased with himself, "you kept my birthday surprise a secret for weeks, give me a couple of hours, would you?"

She sighs in annoyance at his non-answer, but goes with it anyway. She's drowsy, and a little bit half-asleep when they pull up to the unassuming little inn with a view of the mountains.

"Castle, this is..." she says, suddenly at a loss.

"Ours for the long weekend," he replies pulling the bags from the back of the car.

She turns to him, gaping. "You rented out the whole place?"

He gives her a little shrug. "Yeah, but it's only four rooms. The boys will be here with Lanie &amp; Jenny, but they'll have to go back on Sunday night. I did ask Alexis, she said she'd see what she could do, but she has classes on Monday as well. When the boys head back, my mother and your father will come down for the next couple of days."

She relaxes. Just family, then. For the whole trip. It's dark out, but the place already feels like beautiful seclusion. She loves it already.

"Castle, it's perfect," she says softly leaning her head on his shoulder.

"I kept trying to come up with these massive plans, these elaborate things. Something worthy of what you gave me for my last birthday. But then I realized, what made that so amazing was how much you had made it about me, and what I loved. And then I realized, I had to make this about you."

Oh she loves this man.

Alexis does come to fill the fourth room in the tiny inn for the weekend. She's alone, much to Castle's relief, Kate knows. It means that their entire family can have dinner together on Sunday night at the restaurant near the inn on Kate's birthday, before half the party departs for the week ahead, but after their parents arrive.

At first she thought it was ridiculous that he suggested a swimsuit in November. But, there is a hot tub and heated pool on the premises, and they go from the water, to bed, to the recreation room at the inn, enjoying the company of friends and time with a good book.

Castle gives her his first birthday gift to her on Saturday morning. "It's useful, Beckett," he insists when she pointed out that it was not yet her birthday.

He's fairly bouncing on the balls of his feet, and he is cute, she acknowledges to herself, but not to him, she thinks with a little laugh. If she tells him, he'll be wired up all day long.

And so she opens the relatively small box, cutting him a look when she unwrape the e-reader he had apparently chosen for her. They had talked about this, his love of all things technology, but also their shared love for the solid feel of real books.

"I thought we agreed I didn't need one," she says, not ungrateful, but a bit put out that he has apparently disregarded the conversation they had a few months back.

"Okay," he says hurriedly, and she suspects he's been planning this for a while. She smiles a bit to herself, but says nothing as she hears him out. "I know that you said that, and I know where you're coming from. I mean, I agree with you, you know that," he says, looking at her, but not really waiting for approval before he continues on. "But, I thought it would be good for travel, for times like this. Because you can take anything with you that you want, your whole library, Kate! Plus it's easy to read in daylight, but it has a light so you don't have to sneak a flashlight under the covers."

He's grinning at her now and it makes her chuckle, because, really, she suspects that might be an image from his own childhood as much as it was her own. She sighs, a little defeated, and kisses his cheek. "So practical," she murmurs, disbelief coloring her voice. But it's sweet. "Thank you, Castle."

She knows that he's pleased with himself every time he spots her curled up in a corner of the cozy little bed-and-breakfast, getting used to the thing. The innkeepers are lovely people, and provide the best homemade cookies Kate thinks she has ever tasted, each afternoon.

It's on their advice that, late Monday afternoon, just before early evening, the two of them bundle up for a walk around the beautiful grounds of the inn, taking in the mountains. It turns out to be one of Kate's favorite experiences of their beautiful long weekend. As they take in the beauty of the mountains, Castle suddenly offers a hushed "Oh, Kate look," and she follows his line of sight.

A female deer stands with two babies, not far off, clearly seeking out an evening snack in late fall air.

"Oh," she breathes out. They stand watching for several minutes until the little group moves on. Then, she turns in his arms, and he wraps his coat around them both, as she rises up on her toes to close the distance in their height that is apparent in the low heeled boots she is wearing. He has given her exactly what she didn't know she needed. Peace and quiet, and family, and beauty.

She brushes a kiss on his lips. "Best birthday ever," she says with a smile.


	2. What's Next

**Tell Me a Story**

**Disclaimer:** I still don't own it, and they're way more evil than me

**AN:** this will be a series of disconnected one shots, based on prompts that I receive through tumblr. Because I wanted them to have a home here.

_For everyone kind enough to ask. Past, present, and future_

* * *

Prompt: After Castle does his little smirk and Beckett walks out the door [in 1x01] Castle follows her asking for their next case file. (_47-coffees_)

* * *

"So, what's next?"

"I'm sorry?" She turns, finding Castle right at her heels.

"What's our next case?"

He's so eager about it, she could almost find it cute. She smothers it with a half annoyed exhale, calling his smug little smirk of a moment ago to mind in order to squelch the feeling. She drops into the chair at her desk, shakes her head.

"Sorry, hot shot. Doesn't work that way. I'm afraid we can't arrange murder on command for your amusement.

"You do that cute little crinkle in your forehead for my -"

She stands, reaching for her coat. "If you're looking for authenticity, Mr. Castle, you're going to love the days of paperwork. It's thrilling." She pauses as the thought occurs to her. "And you're actually going to have some paperwork of your own. The legal releases should keep you busy for days."

She watches the grimace flash across his face and that smile she's been holding back slides across her own. "So, you have fun with that."

She's nearly to the elevator when she hears his voice again, still too close at her back, in her space again.

"Oh, no need to worry, Detective. I'll be sure not to have any fun without you."


	3. Kindred Souls

**Kindred Souls**

**Disclaimer**_**:**_ I still don't own it, and I am back to being a poor student with bills, so I'm even less worth suing.

_For tumblr user i-don't-look-i-hunt who sent me the gorgeous visual prompt _

* * *

Castle watches as his littlest girl carefully wedges herself in the space between the legs of the stuffed elephant that is, basically, as big as she is. Her little head settles, pillowed on the soft, grey body. She's surrounded by the thing, he thinks with a soft chuckle.

Mackenzie likes to be close to things, Castle has learned. His daughter is a snuggler. It shouldn't surprise him. Not really. She gets that from both her parents. But really, if he thinks about it mostly Kate.

There was a time that idea might have surprised him. The Kate Beckett he had first met, the one from whom there daughter had inherited her full cap of dark, thick hair, was as far from someone he would have considered a snuggler.

In fact, on the surface, that woman is so far from his wife as he knows her, he wonders if he should have been more startled by her in those early days of their relationship. But, on some level, he thinks he's always understood that it would be this way, the sharp contrasts of Beckett and Kate. He can be like that too.

For him, it's personas, projections of the way he wants people to see him, Richard Castle - Author, Playboy, Millionaire. So different from Father, Son, Husband, Partner. For Kate, well, she'd said it herself. She'd had walls. And the thing about walls or even false fronts? They don't just keep pain out. They keep you in.

Insecurity, vulnerability, softness, silliness, warmth. Things that can put you at risk. But they also make you whole, real, true. Two people who had gotten so good at protecting themselves, they forgot to really live.

He doesn't want that for his little girl, hopes that she'll always feel safe being as close as she can get to the things that she loves. That her heart will stay so open. Because sometimes he's amazed at how far both her parents have come.

Kate saved him from himself first. He wonders if she knows that. He reaches out and brushes a finger over his daughter's cheek. He'd had Alexis, sure. But she'd grown up on him, like her little sister would, too. And he'd started going through the motions, all of it shallow and emotionless.

But then there had been Kate, and passion - for her, her work, and his own - and silliness, which, he knows she had loved, even when she hated it, too. When he met her, he'd met himself again. And he'd wanted so desperately for Kate Beckett to know that feeling too.

So, he'd scratched and he'd clawed and he'd dug. He'd peeled back her defenses slowly. Unearthed the warm, funny, silly, awkward, loving woman he'd married. The one who had seemed such a stark contrast to him on the surface. But she was his kindred soul, deep in that place they had both been hiding away.

So, that first time she'd come in close, settled in like it was the most natural thing in world, it had been. Because stripped of defenses, they had turned to one another so feel secure in the wider world. A simple thing, for a little one like Mackenzie, natural and instinctive, to seek and give comfort without limits.

He sighs.

"Castle, stop thinking so loudly over there," Kate's voice is a soft mumble from the other side of the bed. "Come 'ere," she brushes the spaces beside her that he knows she wants him to fold himself into.

He smiles, settling a few pillows around their little girl, in case she tries to roll. So she won't tumble of the bed and get hurt. But he knows she won't need it. Her Elephant has her, curled up, soft and safe.

Kate's watching him watch the baby, though her eyes are drowsy with sleep. He turns the soft smile on his wife, then moves over to settle behind her on the bed. She curls into him immediately, molding herself to his body.

Like mother like daughter.


	4. Worst Case Scenario

**Worst Case Scenario **

**Disclaimer**_**:**_ I still don't own it, and I am back to being a poor student with bills, so I'm even less worth suing.

**AN:** Prompt at the end. I'd say I'm sorry, but...

* * *

As he lay in an ever expanding pool of blood, Castle couldn't help but wonder how he always seemed to get them in to these situations. True, he had only wanted to help. And it had seemed so simple, so harmless. But he should have known that nothing ever quite works out as expected where he and Kate are concerned. And he should definitely have listened to the alarm bells that had warned him against dragging her into this with him.

She had sworn that it was okay, that she didn't mind, wanted to help. Of course she did. She loved him enough to jump into his crazy schemes despite her own reservations.

Only now, circumstances have conspired in totally unforeseen ways, and he's dying, Kate hovering over him, saying all the right things, going through all the right motions, like she knows exactly how it should go. A little haltingly, yes, but under the circumstances he could hardly blame her. And it's eerie, this switch of roles from her shooting. But it's oddly comforting too. He wants her right there if everything goes of the rails like this and he's known that for a while.

But he's torn, watching her go through this, because it isn't fair, it's hurting her. His mother had wanted to intervene, back at the start, but they had refused to involve her. It wouldn't have been right, Kate had insisted. That was Beckett, his partner, commented.

But he can't spare the thought for his concern for too long. The situation is becoming more and more grim, the area beneath him more and more bloodied, and if he doesn't get the words out soon, he'll miss his chance. And given his present condition, getting the words out should be hard enough as it is.

He lifts a hand, wincing. It's coated in blood. But it can't be helped. He reaches out, letting pain make his movements slow and uncoordinated, but not letting it stop him. He's on a mission. His hand grazes her cheek and transfers blood there in a haphazard trail.

Her eyes snap to his, and she grabs for his hand, pays no attention to the blood. She leans closer over him, keeping up a soft litany of words that make his heart falter and his stomach twist. He wants to make this better for her, if that's humanly possible. So, he goes for it.

"Marry me," he gets out.

Her eyes go wide and her jaw goes slack. He's vaguely proud that she didn't see that coming.

"Rick, be serious," she admonishes him, her voice somewhere between laughing and crying, like she's stuck between the two. Or maybe thinking about smacking him. All of which works right now.

He grins at her, pleased with himself, even as he tries to work around the blood and his injuries to free his treasure from his pocket. It requires contortions that make him grimace, and have even his still stunned partner trying to keep him still.

"Totally serious," breathes out once he succeeds, holding the sparkling ring aloft. Kate gapes at him, and for a moment he thinks he might have done too well, might have rendered her speechless, when a moment is really all they have left.

But then he sees the understanding dawn in her eyes, and she manages a strong if unsteady "Yes,"

And then it's all over but the inevitable end. His lips curve into a smile, even as his eyes try to send her one last silent apology for the whole thing. A moment later he goes still, and the hand holding her ring out to her falls limply at his side.

The room bursts into an awkward smattering of applause and a few sniffles, and he jumps to his feet, making a comical show of it as he brings Kate up with him. He hams it up as as his mother praises their performance, mostly for his wife's benefit. Between the nature of the prompt she had drawn ("The love of your life bleeds to death in your arms") and her tendency to not be comfortable performing in front of others, he knows this can't have been an easy exercise for her.

But she had wanted to help as much as he had when his mother asked them to volunteer for the improvisation workshop she was holding as part of a summer program for underserved teenagers interested in the arts. They just...hadn't anticipated this scenario.

"How did you even get my engagement ring in your pocket?" Kate asks as Martha turns her attention to her young students.

"You took them both off when Mother said that the props might get a little messy. I didn't want them to get lost in the shuffle, so I stuck them in my pocket for safe keeping." That was,of course, before he realized that his mother's idea of messy was going to involve a more than adequate quantity of fake blood. "I'll have it cleaned. Both of them. Thoroughly." He promises, and his too he realizes.

"Better," she mutters in his ear, digging her fingers into his back a little she speaks.

"I figured it would help, under the circumstances he says, holding out his own prompt for her to read. She squints a little as she reads, the paper smeared with stage blood. ("During exercise A, propose marriage to your partner.")

"Of all the combinations to draw," she says with a sigh. Kate had drawn the first slip, which was meant to be shared between them. He had drawn the second, which he had to keep to himself, allowing Kate to improvise her response. Kate had reasoned that her limited ability to follow a script, but her considerable skill at thinking on her feet would serve them well. He's suddenly very glad they had chosen to go in that order. He couldn't have done it if she had been the one bleeding on the ground.

His mother, realizing the situation had quietly offered to let them redraw. But Kate had said that would violate the spirit of the exercise and set a bad example for the young students. He feels like maybe he should have a word with her though, about picking less extreme examples of drama to work with in the future.

"Yeah, not the greatest circumstance for a proposal, huh?" He offers in reply.

She hums in agreement. "Yeah, I think I preferred thinking you were breaking up with me."

"Hey, now," he says, mildly affronted.

She comes in close, brushing her fingers through his hair. "Worth it," she whispers. "Totally worked."

"Gonna get the blood on you," he warns her, holding her away a little.

She bites her lip and looks over at his mother. He follows her gaze, but teacher and students now seem wholly engrossed in each other and their discussion.

"What do you say we get out of here, and I help you get this stuff off?"

He takes in the quirk of her eyebrow and her mischievous smile, none the worse for wear, apparently. Not for the first time, he thinks about how much he loves the way that her mind works. Yeah, he can count a long shower with his wife as a perk of this experience. Definitely.

"Lead the way," he says, his smile matching hers.

* * *

Prompt: _*clutches heart* Person A cradling Person B's head, frantically trying to stop their bleeding, when Person B suddenly asks A to marry them. When Person A tells them to stop joking around, B pulls a wedding ring out of their bloodied coat. The moment A says yes, Person B's last breath leaves them._


	5. An Uxexpected Complication

**Tell Me a Story**

**Disclaimer:** I still don't own it, and they're way more evil than me

**AN:** this will be a series of disconnected one shots, based on prompts that I receive through tumblr. Because I wanted them to have a home here.

_For everyone kind enough to ask. Past, present, and future_

* * *

_**Anonymous prompt:** kate gets shot but this time she's pregnant (happy ending) _

* * *

This time, he sees the movement, the quick flash for what it is, and his physical contact beats out his shout of warning. He yanks and her wrist, pulling her down on top of him.

The bullet makes contact, through, catching her vest in the back, near her shoulder.

"Are you okay?" She says into his ear, voice tight with pain. Castle went down on his back, and he'd broken her fall.

"I'm," he gets out, sounding breathless from the fall, "fine. Are you -"

She wants to lie, spare him the worry. Because she knows that it will sound so much worse than it really is, and she hates the idea of putting him though that. But, there has been too much of that, and last time, it had nearly cost them everything.

"Hit my shoulder," she admits quietly - "but just through the vest. I'm okay, Rick."

"You're shot!" He hisses, moving gently but quickly to put her off and get to his feet. She stays seated on the ground, carefully cradling her arm.

She says nothing as he moves around behind her to check, ensure the bullet is in fact stuck in the vest and not her body. She can hear the boys behind them, controlled chaos as they go about apprehending the shooter. The sounds of sirens are approaching, and she realizes they are about to be inundated by backup and paramedics.

Castle helps her to her feet as they pull up. "You need to get this looked at," he says, his voice insistent as his hand hovers at her injured shoulder without touching.

"I'm fine," she insists again. "There will be bruising, you know that. But it's not the same, Castle. I'm walking and talking. I'm here." She brushes the fingers of her good hand at his cheek, but winces when the action causes more movement than she expected.

He shakes his head "You need to get this checked out," he insists. "Your shoulder could be dislocated, you could need a cast or a brace. Plus, you're in pain."

She wants to resist, but he's right. And she owes him, a little, for last time. She can already see the dark shadow of memory that plays at his eyes. There will be nightmares, she's sure. Probably for both of them.

They end up at the hospital at the paramedics insistence, wanting her looked over thoroughly by a doctor for good measure. It takes much longer thing Castle thinks it should, and Kate is fairly certain he's on the verge of bribing someone to get her seen when the doctor finally comes in.

"Mr. and Mrs Castle," the kind faced older woman begins before she's even looked up from the chart in her hand her hand. "I'm sorry to have kept you waiting, but we wanted to wait on the results of your blood work from intake. A good call too, I'd say."

"I'm sorry?" Kate says, not understanding.

"Your x-rays look good, and there's no dislocation that we can see. But, there's probably a good deal of muscle strain and some bruising, so you'll be needing something for pain, no doubt. But with female patients, we like to check the blood work first. Just to be safe." The woman smiles softly at their confused expressions. "I'm assuming since you didn't mark it on the form, you didn't know you were expecting."

The air seems to have gone out of the room, Kate thinks. "We're -"

"Pregnant?" Castle finishes for her. Helpful man.

"Indeed," the doctor confirms. "All seems in order there, but we'll do an exam and a scan, just to be sure. And I'd advise you to avoid fieldwork from here out Detective."

Kate's blood runs cold. It - she could have lost…this could have been so much worse. "I didn't know. I had no idea. I would never have been…" She trails off, because the words don't feel like enough.

"I know, Kate. I know," Castle says quietly. Then to the doctor he adds, "She fell."

"Soft landing," Kate cuts in quickly. "You broke my fall." She looks at the doctor. "Someone should look at his back, and his knee," she adds, concern momentarily overriding her shock.

"We'll give everybody a once over," the doctor promises, "but as I said so far everything looks good. You're all very lucky."

And they are, fine and lucky, both. They take a cab home and find a message from Gates waiting on arrival telling Kate not to set foot in her precinct for the rest of the week, and to expect to be chained to her desk until she's fully cleared from the shooting and recovery. The Captain doesn't know the half of it, Kate thinks.

But she doesn't care. She doesn't think she's ever looked forward to days of paperwork quite this much. And from the self satisfied grin that hasn't left Castle's face since they were given the all clear, she's pretty sure he agrees.


End file.
